Flight Path
by Lisa Charles
Summary: Nearly seven years after facing the Volturi in Breaking Dawn, the story of the Cullen Clan and the Quileute wolves continues with what happens between Jacob, Nessie and their families.
1. Chapter 1: Pre-Wedding Jitters

Flight Path by Lisa Charles

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight Universe, I'm just dabbling in it.

Chapter One: Pre-Wedding Jitters

It never took Jake more than twelve minutes to run to the Cullen House but he seemed to make the trip even faster whenever Nessie called him. Of course, the fact that they were engaged now probably had a lot to do with his incredible speed these days. In any case, Jake was just phasing back as Nessie finally managed to fight off the fervent female vampires that had kept her holed up in the living room of her parents cottage, enveloped in a cloud of silk organza, flowers, and pearly stationary all morning. Ever since she asked Jake to marry her, the entire Cullen clan had been in some sort of wedding hyper drive. Honestly, with the amount of "ideas" her family members seemed to be coming up with, one might think that they'd been waiting all her life to marry her off.

Jake still shudders when he remembers that day in June when Edward found the memory of Nessie's proposal in his thoughts. The entire family was together to celebrate Edward's birthday and he was performing his latest composition when Jacob happened to walk right into his field of view. Try as he might, six years had been nowhere near long enough for Jake to learn how to conceal his musings from the century old mind-reader. Something about Jake's earnest desire to make his Ness happy and the joy that it brought him made the wolf an open book whenever Edward was curious enough for some light reading. Of course, Edward generally made it a point to avoid Jake's thoughts at all costs as Ness grew older. A painful fear of uncovering images of his own baby girl in any romantic situations, real or imagined, meant slip ups were very few and extremely far between. Accidents do happen however, and as a father who could really blame Edward for that rare and inadvertent invasion of privacy?

In any case, that one lapse had resulted in the need for Jacob to rescue Nessie from her mother, grandmother and aunts at least twice a day for the past three and a half weeks. With the wedding date not even set yet, Jake could see no end in sight for the matrimonial madness that consumed his in-laws-to-be. According to them, it was absolutely unforgivable that Jake and Nessie attempted to keep their engagement a secret, even if it had just been for a meager four days. As recompense for this grievous error in judgment**,** the two of them had been accosted at every turn, whether while watching TV, playing video games, or even hunting. At all times of the day and night they were questioned on their preferences on food, music, guests, and cake flavors. Obviously, Nessie wasn't quite as concerned with that last one (she had never developed much of a taste for sweets), but Jake refused to simply let Alice dictate the terms of the most important day of his life. There were more than a few customs and traditions that went along with a wedding in his tribe, not to mention the union of an imprinted wolf and his mate.

All of this made for very intense wedding planning which caused a blowout between Alice and Jake one evening after just a week of work. Alice had just settled on a destination wedding when Jake decided it was time he spoke up. "Quileutes marry on their own land," Jake said quietly. "Well that's not a rule or anything," replied Alice absentmindedly as she flipped through three travel magazines. "But that's what my parents did. Right in front of the house my dad built for my mom," Jake insisted. "And I'm sure that was really romantic but it's not like you've built a house for Nessie," retorted Alice**,**having barely glanced away from her magazines.

Wrapped in Jake's arms on the living room couch, Ness could feel him beginning to tense up and moved to intervene. The look in Jake's eyes stopped her short. He seemed almost determined to handle this himself and with most of the family off hunting for the night**,**this was his only chance. "Alice," he began evenly, "I know this wedding is like a dream come true for you and your sisters but I need you to understand something." Annoyed at having her attention torn from her magazines, Alice sighed. "What is it Jacob?" she asked with the slightest hint of exasperation. With his temper beginning to rise Jake continued, "I appreciate all the work you've been doing but this is Ness's big day. She and I are the ones getting married." Glaring at the man who was nearly twice her size Alice replied, "I know that Jacob," just a little icily. "Well I really think Ness and I should plan our own wedding," added Jake as firmly as he could manage without leaving the couch.

"You wouldn't know the first thing about planning a wedding Jacob. Trust me, I've done this at least six times," said Alice as she folded her arms across her chest and made to leave the room. Jake stood up quite abruptly, desperate to get his point across, and blurted out "I've been dreaming of this day for six years!" As Alice turned to face him he continued, "I've gone over what I want to say to her under an archway of wildflowers for every night since the one I imprinted on her. I've pictured her hair glowing in the warmth of the sunset as I promise her my life**, **my love." Alice placed her hands at her sides as she admitted she hadn't known how Jake felt. She was, however, still quite reluctant to give up on what she felt was a great idea and insisted Jake could "do all of those things somewhere else just as easily as he could in Forks." This seemed to genuinely upset Jake. He appeared to be physically holding himself together as he spoke in a stern voice that seemed out of place in his mouth. "No. No, I can't. Ness and I are getting married in La Push and that's final."

Alice, more angry now at the thought of her wedding prowess being challenged than by anything Jacob was actually saying, burst into a fit of rage. "What makes you think you can just prance in here making all kinds of demands about a wedding? Its sweet and all that you're imprinted and wolfishly in love or whatever but you are still a guy and know absolutely nothing about all of the details that go into planning an event this huge! Sunset and flowers don't make a wedding Jacob! And La Push?_ Seriously_? How will any of the wedding guests be able to attend if the ceremony is in La Push? You might be "alpha of the pack" or whatever but you and I both know the tribe won't stand for vampires in their territory," laughed Alice mercilessly. "You're absolutely right Alice," Jake responded, his voice now completely drowning out the television program he and Ness had been watching. "You and the rest of the Cullens have been welcomed as family since I imprinted on Ness but none of your vampire friends will ever be welcome on Quileute land. Luckily for Ness and I, none of our friends are vampires. We want our wedding guests to be people we actually care about, our friends from college, the friends we both grew up with, not the assorted _blood-suckers_ you all have gotten chummy with over the last century or so," Jake finished with a bit of a growl.

At this point, Ness could stand by no longer. The others would be home soon and she knew she had to diffuse the tension before her whole family became involved and everything got out of hand. Touching her hands to Jake's face, Nessie showed him a vision of her compromise while sending a pleading look to her aunt Alice. "Aunty," she began to ask in her best placating baby voice, "what if we had the ceremony in La Push and then the reception wherever you wanted? We could even do it here like mom and dad's wedding. Wouldn't that be just so romantic?" Alice simply said "I suppose," as she started to realize how silly she'd been. "It might be nice for a little change of scenery between the ceremony and reception," she began to concede as she recognized the possibilities having two locations offered her in terms of decorating schemes.

"What about you Jake, can you live with that?" Ness asked as she removed her hand from his face and looked into his brown eyes. "Of course Ness," he answered, "as long as your aunt agrees to give you and I the final word in all wedding decisions from here on out." Alice conceded while rolling her eyes, "You hereby have all veto power, go to town," she promised as she raised one hand into the air palm forward and adding a little curtsey by way of apology. "Great," Jake responded with a hint of sarcasm, "thanks for the green light and the red paint." With that all things went back to normal for the next two weeks, or as normal as a house full of vampires planning a wedding can be, with daily dress fittings, cake tastings, and wedding band rehearsals to contend with.

As it was, it hadn't taken long before Ness had reached her limit as well on one particular morning some 15 days later when she reluctantly sent an S.O.S. text to Jake at 10:45 am. She hadn't wanted to wake him. He'd spent most of the night patrolling the northern border of the Quileute territory searching for a nomad whose scent had been picked up by the pack a night ago, but she really had no choice. After being roused at the crack of dawn to test out another hairstyle idea and then forced to sit through seven combinations of lipstick, blush, and eye shadow, she just couldn't take it any longer. In the few minutes it took Ness to distract Rosalie and Alice and wipe off her face Jake was there practically growling like the wolf he'd just morphed from. Stalking right towards Alice, Jake spoke in the coldest voice Ness had ever heard him use, "Enough is enough Alice!"

After hearing his voice echo through the little cottage Jacob mastered his anger just enough to begin to add a "please" but it was already too late. Jasper had heard Jake yell at his wife and was at the cottage in a flash, ready for a fight. Southern sensibilities wouldn't let Jasper allow any man to raise his voice to a woman, let alone his own wife, especially not when that voice belonged to a wolf whose temper might cause an accident that couldn't be taken back. Before Jacob could even notice what was happening Jasper had yanked him back through the front door of the cottage and thrown him twenty feet away towards the tree line. Taken by surprise Jake still managed to phase back into his giant wolf form before the first of his hairs had even touched the wood. That, however, meant that his impact shattered not just the tree he hit but toppled over those nearest him as well. The resulting crash sounded throughout the woods as did Jakes painful whimpers.

Ness flew to his side immediately, assessing his pulse and checking for broken bones. As she called for Carlisle's aid, she attempted to calm her fiancé down and back into his human form by showing him happy images from her own memories. Finally Jake was himself again and Carlisle was able to set to work on him. Though the damage hadn't been serious, the accelerated healing all of the wolves exhibited always made Carlisle's work rather difficult. As a doctor he hated the pain it caused his wolf patients to re-break and set their bones properly whenever they were so injured in the task of defending their people against unfriendly vampires. He typically felt a tad guilty about the whole predicament but knew that his job had to be done quickly and as such he worked on Jacob, whom he now deemed as family, with a speed he sometimes forgot he had.

Nessie, however, didn't stick around to hold Jacob's hand. Instead she rounded on Jasper, Alice and even Rosalie (who hadn't moved an inch since Jacob burst through the door), eyeing them each like a cat on the hunt. Ness sputtered trying to find the words through all of her anger. "W...Wh...What...What were you thinking Jasper!? And Alice why couldn't you see this was coming!? All of this is your fault! I'm so tired of all of you always butting in**,**thinking you can just take over my wedding! And you Jasper, always trying to diffuse the tension! It's not going to work now! Nobody asked you to get in the middle and Jake wasn't going to hurt Alice, he is perfectly capable of controlling himself! I'm just so sick of all of you throwing yourselves into the middle of everything..." Finally at a loss for words her tirade ended and Ness returned to Jake's side, gently lifting him from Carlisle's administrations. After carefully carrying him to her car and placing him inside she drove off to Billy's house but not before warning the others to not bother following her.

End of chapter one


	2. Chapter 2: Out of Wedlock

Chapter Two: Out of Wedlock

The courtship (if you could really call it that) between Jake and Ness began not long after her sixth birthday, which Carlisle deemed to be closer to her 17th given her rate of growth and level of maturity. Edward and Bella gave their blessing to the budding romance after realizing that their baby girl had ceased to be a baby some time ago. Of course it was a sticky situation all around given the style of group parenting that seemed to rule much of Nessie's short-lived childhood. As a group of vampires, the Cullens were used to moving through the years a decade at a time but the speed of Nessie's growth was the type of thing no one could ever get used to. However, seeing how drawn to one another Ness and Jake were made it fairly obvious that little could be done to slow the pace of their growing amourous attractions to each other. Bella and Edward tried to impose some boundaries and basic dating rules, but they were newlyweds themselves. They as much as anyone could realize the futility of trying to stem the flow of a true love and couldn't bring themselves to come between the pair with anything more than a decent curfew.

Like any teenager in love, Ness tried to keep most of her relationship away from the eyes of her parents. But having a father capable of reading your mind forces you to take further precautions. Ness was actually very good at hiding her thoughts from her father, something which likely had a lot to do with her own particular talent. Her ability to recall absolutely every sight she'd ever seen, including those she'd only imagined, meant her mind was quite "full." For this reason Edward always had a difficult time trying to distinguish anything she didn't purposefully show him herself. As long as Ness managed to keep Jake away from her father, the two of them were able to keep each other's confidences on one or two matters just like any normal teenage couple. And just like any _normal _teenage couple, being hopelessly in love, they definitely had a secret they wouldn't want anybody knowing about.

Ness, in particular, had a secret she couldn't tell anyone. Belonging to a family of vampires meant Ness hadn't gone to school like other kids but it didn't mean she was dumb. As a matter of fact, her accelerated growth and literally photographic memory meant she had the capacity to learn at an astonishing rate as well. Where it had taken her father years to master the piano and to begin composing his own songs, Ness had become a virtuoso before she was even a year old. Of course after a while Nessie started to see just how unusual her progress was in everything she learned and she decided it might be better to hold back a little. Eventually a little turned into a lot, and as she grew older she began learning all kinds of information from the extensive Cullen libraries unbeknownst to anyone else. Her favorite subject was science as it seemed to grow just as rapidly as she did. She particularly favored biology and anatomy given the insight those subjects were able to offer her when it came to the nature of her own unprecedented existence.

With everything she'd gleaned from Carlisle's immense personal library and his extremely detailed notes about her, she was more of an expert than he was, in barely half the time. Thus, it came as no surprise that she was able to notice the slightest changes in her own body and appearance long before anyone else. When she noticed changes in her appetite and her thirst, she was sure to keep them to herself. Her eyes being just as, if not keener than those of her relatives, Ness could even see a change in her complexion before anyone else. She was also the only one to recognize when her hair and nails began growing more rapidly than they ever had in the past. Each of these slight differences led Nessie to believe that something major might be happening, that she might even be pregnant.

The day that Ness came to the realization of this possibility was the most shocking of her short life. She happened to have awokenearly that spring morning to find that her parents had not yet returned from their hunting trip. Upon one glance in her bathroom mirror the truth simply hit her and she knew enough to understand that her response had to be immediate. She dressed quickly, throwing on a new pair of blue jeans and cream colored cardigan courtesy of her aunt, Alice. Taking advantage of her parent's absence, Ness ran to the pharmacy in town to purchase a pregnancy test before anyone else in her family came looking for her. As she ran through the woods, Ness was thankful that her rapid growth and homeschooling over the past six years would serve as a great advantage as it meant nobody in town would recognize her or think anything of this less than prideful purchase.

Rather than risk the chance of someone in her family coming across any hint of the pregnancy test in the trash, Ness opted to use a public restroom in town and thus was utterly alone when she received the confirmation of her suspicions. Anticipating the reaction her father would have upon finding out she was no longer a virgin and, worse yet, pregnant out of wedlock, Ness saw only one course of action. She had to get married. And even more importantly, she had to hide every visible sign of her pregnancy from every single person she knew because not a mind existed that was entirely safe from the searching probes of her father.

Coming to this conclusion in that dingy ladies room of the town diner admittedly wasn't one of her finest moments but Ness wasn't the type to wallow in self pity. After gathering herself and putting on a brave face, Ness left the bathroom of the busy diner she had taken refuge in and proceeded to the department store down the road for some much needed supplies. Once there, she picked out a foundation that would cover up the extra color she had been noticing in her complexion and some clothes that she hoped might help disguise any weight gain. With her purchases in hand Ness decided to move on to the next phase of her plan and run to Jacob's house.

Ness slowed down to barely a jog as she approached Billy Black's familiar home. The woods surrounding his house were usually teeming with wolves and it never boded well to surprise a wolf. Moving amongst the trees, Ness had her mind set on her plan and couldn't pay much notice to the natural beauty brought on by spring and the warmer weather that signaled the coming of summer. As she stepped up to the barn red colored house with it's worn wood front door, Ness combed through her long mahogany brown hair and hoped she looked at least halfway decent after the 15 mile run.

She didn't bother knocking because she knew Billy was off fishing with her grandpa Charlie and that her Jacob would still be sleeping. She opened the door before silently pulling off her boots to better creep across the creaky hardwood floors. Walking straight back to his tiny bedroom, Ness squeezed past the door that had been left slightly ajar and crawled into Jake's too small bed as quietly as possible. She lay there silently, beneath the blankets Jake had kicked off in the night, with a few rays of sunshine coming through the window panes to set her face aglow. As she listened to the long and deep breaths that corresponded to the rise and fall of Jake's chest, Ness rehearsed in her mind exactly what she would say.

When she thought she had it down and could stand the wait no longer, Ness kissed Jake. First on his warm forehead, next on his dimpled cheeks, then on his neck and collarbone before planting one right on his lips. Apparently Jake had woken somewhere between the pecks on his cheeks because he kissed her back without hesitation before grabbing her up in his arms in a great bear hug that completely undercut the romantic wake up call Ness was trying to conduct. "Good morning Jake," greeted Ness as her boyfriend began to relax his grip and smile widely. "Good morning to you too Ness, what are you doing here?" he asked in a pleasantly surprised tone as he playfully raised one eyebrow. Catching his meaning, Ness giggled as she replied, "Oh, nothing like that now, I just wanted to see you..."

Content to stay in bed with Ness for the rest of the day, Jake made to lay back down as he admitted, "Well no matter what you came here for, I loved waking up to you like that. At first I thought I was just dreaming but I'm glad I wasn't." Sensing the perfect opportunity Ness asked in a quiet voice, "How would you like it if you woke up next to me every day for the rest of our lives?" Jacob, having just closed his eyes in the process of snuggling up next to Ness, snapped up with his eyes wide. "What are you saying?" was his only response. "I'm saying," began Nessie quite slowly, "that I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

As the pair of them stared into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity, they both began to smile. Finally, Jacob recovered his ability to speak and said, "I love you too Renesmee Carlie Cullen and would be honored to spend the rest of _my _life with _you_for however long that might be." Seeing a small tear in the corner of his girlfriend's eye Jake added a question he'd been waiting to ask for a time that felt like it had lasted longer than his entire life. "Will you marry me?" he proposed as a genuine concern that he might actually be dreaming began to loom in the back of his mind. When Nessie said yes, it was all Jake could do not to pinch himself but the kiss he received from Nessie was enough to assure him that everything was indeed real.

As a matter of fact, when the kiss ended Jake was sure that everything was more real than it ever had been before, that reality was being completely rewritten in the seconds it took for Ness to kiss him again. They stayed like that for hours, kissing, smiling, and laying in each other's arms between breaking into fits of excited laughter. Eventually Ness noticed the sunshine had left the room and that the evening was approaching. Also aware of the time, Jake checked his cell phone to find that he had three missed calls. As he moved to get dressed he asked Ness if she had any opinions on how to break the news to their families. Having already anticipated Jake's desire to share such a great development, Ness was ready with her response. "I was thinking that maybe we could keep it quiet for a little while. At least until your dad gets back from his trip. Besides, you know how my family gets at the thought of a party: half of them start blowing up the balloons and the other half look ready to faint."

Jake chuckled at Nessie's answer but understood her concerns so he agreed to keep their impending marriage a secret for the time being. He figured this might at least buy him some time to shop for a ring without any vampires offering their opinions on size, cut, or clarity. "I suppose I could steer clear of the Cullen house and your dad for a few days but I don't know about keeping it from the pack. As soon as I phase they'll all know about it," Jake explained as he pulled a black t-shirt over his head. "I'm not sure how long I can go without phasing before somebody starts thinking that something's up," he wondered aloud.

"I guess it's a good thing Leah's off at school since she's usually the first one to call you out on anything, huh?" Ness asked as she put her boots back on. Jake nodded in agreement as he remembered all the times Leah had called him out for his needless worrying about how his imprinting might have been affecting Ness. Jake actually missed Leah a whole lot, given the shaky ground on which their friendship had started, because running a pack without your second in command just wasn't the same. "Yeah," Jake agreed, "but she'll be home for the summer real soon," he reminded Ness. They both considered this fact and just how difficult it might be to keep their engagement a secret before Ness finally got up to leave. "My parents probably know I'm here but that won't stop them from grounding me if I get home too late, I didn't leave a note or text or anything," she worried quietly. Jake went to kiss her goodbye before grabbing up his cell phone and jacket as he headed out the door behind her.

Ness ran the few miles home through the forest just as the sun was beginning to set and felt quite pleased with herself for the progress she had made that day. As Ness figured it, all she would have to do is convince her Jake that they should elope before Billy, Leah, or her dad could guess or figure out that they were engaged and before anybody had any clue she was pregnant. Ness just hoped beyond hope that her child would be more like Jacob than herself; that it wouldn't grow at the same alarming rate she had when her mother was pregnant, and that she would have enough time to pull off her plan. As Ness got closer to her parents cottage she decided it might be a good idea to stash her purchases in the woods as opposed to keeping them any place where Alice might come across them in the weekly spruce up of her niece's wardrobe. Ness found one of the hollowed out trees she had used to hide in during games of hide and seek when she was smaller and stuffed her bag into it before walking up to the humble little home.

She could hear a fire roaring in the living room and her parents chatting in relaxed tones so she supposed she was in the clear for now. Walking through the door she put on a happy face, "Hi mom! Hey dad! How was your trip?" she asked with as much interest as she could muster. "Did you catch anything good?" she added, knowing her dad wouldn't be able to resist an opportunity to tell a good hunting story about her mom. Edward was always so proud of his wife and how well she had taken to being a vegetarian vampire, as the rest of her family jokingly called themselves. Ness was proven right as Edward immediately launched into a suspenseful tale about his wife tracking a bobcat without even glancing once at the clock on the mantelpiece.

The next day passed in the same relatively peaceful manner wherein Ness distracted her parents and the rest of her family by reminding everyone of her father's upcoming 111th birthday. The planning (and dread, as displayed by Edward himself) that ensued was terrifying to behold considering the occasion was only days away. Apparently the date had snuck up on everyone given how Edward hated to celebrate his birthday and wasn't overly fond of parties that weren't in honor of his beloved daughter. While this at first seemed like a brilliant means of keeping everyone's gaze averted from Nessie's predicament, it soon became clear that Edward's birthday party would be an event that Jacob could by no means miss. Because of this Ness had to discuss her desire to elope with Jake much sooner than she originally anticipated and that conversation obviously went less than according to plan.

Jake had taken her into Seattle the day before Edward's birthday to pick up the diamond ring he had purchased for her. He had hoped that Ness might want to tell her family about their engagement at the party considering everyone they cared about would already be there to celebrate. During the drive into the city Jake mentioned this possibility, clearly eager to share his joy about the thought of marrying Ness with everyone else. Ness genuinely smiled when she realized how excited Jacob was to marry her and almost felt bad for rushing him into it without him even knowing it. She clung to the hope that he would come to understand her reasons for manipulating the situation and continue to love her afterwards. As they followed the highway through the Olympic National Park in Jake's new car, Ness changed the subject.

"So do you miss the old rabbit at all, Jake?" she asked as she fiddled around with the glove compartment and seat controls in Jake's Hyundai. Jake frowned a little as he thought about his first car, the one he had built from scratch years ago and finally had to trade in for something with "better gas mileage." Ness suspected that Jake wanted a car that looked nicer after having to park next to the Cullen's armada of luxury vehicles everyday but refrained from mentioning it when Jake bought the fully loaded black Santa Fe turbo. Apparently Jake had gotten a great deal on the car and Ness was actually proud that he had been able to shop around for something that was just as good as most of the cars her family drove at almost half the price. "Well," Jake finally responded with a grin, "this car is quite a bit faster." And with that he opened up the throttle and cut the three and a half hour drive down to just over two.

Once they got off the ferry in Seattle they picked out a place for a late lunch and spent an hour talking wistfully of married life. Ness only really enjoyed her steak but Jacob devoured both his meal and all the sides that accompanied Nessie's so that nothing was wasted. After they'd finished eating, Jake took Ness to the quaint little jewelry store he'd ordered her ring from. He had first tried looking in Port Angeles but wasn't able to find the perfect one at any of the chain stores he'd visited. He did, however, get a recommendation for a family owned business that specialized in custom and handcrafted engagement rings. While this store didn't have a website, Jacob was desperate and called up Johnson's Jewelers of Seattle to describe to them the ring he envisioned. Thinking it might cost a small fortune to have something made at such short notice Jake was shocked to hear the jeweler inform him that they had just such a ring in their showcase. After receiving pictures of the one carat brilliant cut diamond, Jake was sold.

As they walked into Johnson's Jewelers, they found a small shop completely covered with green silk wall coverings, numerous glass cases and lit up by a golden chandelier as well as two large bay windows. Stepping up to the counter, Jake became plagued with an incredible nervousness he couldn't remember having experienced before. It was all he could do to hope that Ness loved the ring he'd picked for her as the owner pulled it out for them. The diamond was indeed brilliant as it made the afternoon's light glimmer throughout the narrow showroom. It was set in a delicate white gold band and intricately surrounded by two rows of smaller pear cut diamonds forming the shape of a crystalline flower. As Ness reached a hand out to the open case, Jake beat her to the punch and placed the ring on her finger with steady hands. It fit as if it had been made just for her and Jake couldn't believe his luck at having guessed the right size. Ness was silent.

"Do you like it?" Jake asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Because if you don't we could try on others or even find another store if you don't see anything you like here," he began to ramble as her silence continued. "Or maybe you don't want to wear a ring after all, I know traditional isn't really your style, so I hoped this might be different enough..." he finished with a sigh. Ness still stood as statuesque as any of her relatives, barely breathing as she gazed at the ring on her hand. Eventually, she looked up and locked eyes with Jacob who stared at her pleadingly, and said "I love it." The worry lines that had formed on Jacob's forehead disappeared and he smiled with complete abandon like a kid at Christmas as he scooped Ness up in his arms while proclaiming loudly, "And I love you!" The owner of the jewelry store, Mr. Johnson himself, chuckled as Jacob spun around with Ness in his arms, kissing her unabashedly.

He'd seen his fair share of loving couples in his old showroom and felt that the joy they brought made it a much grander room. Mr. Johnson was not, however, accustomed to what happened next. Out of nowhere the young lady exclaimed, "Let's get married right now!" The customers who typically paid the high price of owning one of Mr. Johnson's pieces didn't usually rush into marriage by having hasty weddings or elopements. No, his clientele was of the type to plan much more elaborate nuptials and in fact he was quite sure this was the first time he had ever heard a bride suggest anything else. Mr. Johnson, however, said absolutely nothing and quietly excused himself from the showroom in order to give the young couple their privacy.

"Wait. Whaddya mean, 'right now?'" Jake asked, pure confusion flooding his face. "Well not this very second," Ness qualified, "but tonight. Here in Seattle, even." Jake's face fell, "It's already after one o'clock Ness, I'm sure your family and the wolves could all get here fast enough but what about Billy and Charlie? They would have to drive and neither of them is exactly a speed demon," Jake rationalized as his euphoria was swiftly replaced by concern. A part of him wanted to give Nessie everything she wanted but the other part of him couldn't help but feel like she deserved so much more than unoriginal vows in a courthouse surrounded by strangers. "Wouldn't you rather wait to get a gown at least, we're not at all dressed for a wedding," he added.

"I would rather not wait another minute, Jacob," Ness answered as Jake placed her feet back on the ground and grasped her hands instead. "I'm anxious to marry you too Ness, I would do it right here in this very shop if I thought it was the best decision but I know we would regret it later," he explained. "When we tell our kids or grandkids about our wedding day I want to have pictures to show them, and I want to tell them about how beautiful you looked coming down the aisle and I want them to hear about how Emmitt embarrassed you with his favorite bad dance moves," Jake rattled off with a smile. "I know you'll want those memories later on and I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I let you pretend otherwise right now."

Ness was touched by the amount of thought Jacob had given to their wedding day. She thought only girls dreamed about this type of thing and couldn't believe that he knew her so well. It was true, she would be missing out on a lot if they eloped but Ness honestly saw no other way to keep her pre-marital pregnancy a secret and avoid embarrassing her family and her fiancé. But with the points Jacob raised Ness had no other choice but to acquiesce and return home with him to Forks. Ness wasn't sure how long she would be able to hide the signs of her pregnancy or how soon she would be able to arrange a wedding but she figured that she might be able to use the later as a cover for the former and hope to buy herself some time. Thus during the car ride home Ness and Jacob came up with a plan for telling their loved ones about the engagement towards the end of Edward's birthday party the very next evening.

When the time came, however, and Edward was at the piano playing a song to thank his friends and family, he happened to glance at Jacob at precisely the moment when Jake was picturing the ring he held in his pocket. Edward instinctively slammed his hand down on the ivory keys instantly turning six or seven of them into dust. The crowd all went still and stared at Edward even more intently than they had been during his performance as he stood up from the piano and swiftly crossed to room to where Jacob stood dumbstruck. "Are you planning to propose to my daughter tonight without even the courtesy of asking me first?" he whispered into Jacob's ear completely ignoring the wolves and vampires all intently listening for a response. Jacob shook his head no but said nothing as Edward clearly received all the facts he'd needed straight from Jacob's mind as he recalled Nessie's proposal.

Edward simply sighed as he realized the truth. His little girl was ready to become a married woman and had taken the matter into her own hands just like everything else she'd ever wanted. He couldn't be surprised as it was a trait he'd always loved about her and worked hard to encourage, although he did wish more of his traditional values would have stuck. But as that was not the case it was all Edward could do to announce to everyone that his daughter and her boyfriend had "something they wanted to share." And thus everyone came to learn of how Ness had proposed to Jake and he had bought her the most fitting ring any of them could ever imagine. Bottles of champagne were brought up from the wine cellar and toasts were made all around as everyone celebrated the good news and Alice fumed silently in a corner for not having been able to see all of this coming and plan more accordingly. For the rest of the night she could be heard muttering, "we could have thrown an engagement party," between incoherent grumbles and scowls.

And as the days passed, they turned into weeks and eventually a years' worth of wedding planning had been completed before Forks even warmed up to the idea of summer. Alice and Jake argued, Ness threw a hissy fit the likes of which had only ever been seen during Bella's human years, and the Cullens allowed her to cool off out on the reservation in the hopes that none of it would spoil the upcoming wedding. Of course, Ness knew her tantrum didn't pose a threat to the wedding at all but instead insured that it would go off without a hitch. Ness just needed a little space between herself and the perceptive eyes of her relatives to keep them off the scent of her secret though she was sorry it came at the expense of her fiancé. But, as Jacob healed and Nessie's aunt Rosalie acted as medium to finalize the last of Alice's arrangements, the wedding date finally approached.

End of Chapter Two


	3. Chapter 3: The Wedding

Chapter Three: The Wedding

The sun rose on what Jake was sure would be a glorious day. It was the first of August, the day of his and Ness's wedding and he couldn't be happier. The birds were singing or at least Jake could hear some birds out in the woods and imagined they were just as excited for today as he was. Of course the fact that nobody would let him see Ness until sunset that evening at the ceremony would make much of the day practically unbearable. It would take all of Jake's self restraint to stay away from his sister's house where Nessie had been staying for the past month. He shook his head and chuckled at the thought. His bride refused to be caught "living in sin" as she put it and thus opted to stay with Rachel until after the wedding. After pulling on some shorts, Jake made his way to the kitchen for some breakfast and wasn't surprised to find Billy waiting there.

"Morning son," greeted Billy in a downright chipper mood, "how did you sleep?" Jake considered his dad's question as he sat down, he couldn't actually recall ever falling asleep but also couldn't remember ever feeling more rested so he responded with an unsure but enthusiastic, "Great, I guess!" The truth was, Jake had stayed up half the night thinking about Renesmee and all the things he loved about her. It was enough to get him rewriting his vows, making so many edits and additions that he wasn't even sure if it would fit into the ceremony in it's entirety. Jake, however, wasn't all too concerned with time constraints and was sure he'd find an opportunity to share everything he had written even if it meant making his wedding guests wait for their dinners. Billy eyed his son apprehensively. While he was happy for Jacob and proud to see his only son growing up into a great Quileute man and pack leader, he was still a bit nervous. His people had practiced a careful defense and due diligence when it came to the Cold Ones for hundreds of years and, though they honored their truce with the Cullens, forging a bond between two such enemies was sure to be fraught with some consequence. Billy couldn't help but worry that it might be something more than he or his tribe could bear and wondered if there was any possibility that it might one day become worth it. But putting his fears aside, Billy was happy to have the opportunity to see his son marry the love of his life and was determined to celebrate the day. After a hearty meal of steak and eggs, Jacob's favorite for breakfast, the pair drove into town to pick up their suits. On the car ride Billy risked another question, "So, how was the bachelor party?" he asked with a small smirk on his face. Having not wanted to hinder all of the fun, Billy had opted out of this particular pre-wedding festivity but wanted to hear about it all the same. "Well, uh," Jake hesitated as he glanced over to his father in the passenger seat before continuing, "it was fun." The trepidation in Jake's voice was evident but Billy pushed on, "Well what did you and the guys do?" he asked. "Uh...well, um, we went for a run...to...uh, Port Angeles," started Jake before a nod from Billy urged him on, "and then we went to a, um, type of bar-like place." Jake continued to drive with his head facing straight forward, eyes not leaving the road.

"So you had a few drinks," Billy suggested, noticing Jake had become rather tight lipped. "Yeah, uh, we drank some," Jake admitted without a single look in his father's direction. "I imagine it would have had to be more than just 'some' drinking if it was enough to make a wolf drunk," Billy proposed, a huge smile suddenly appearing on his lined but warm visage. "You saw me last night," Jacob asked, a look of guilt and embarrassment etched across his face as he continued, "doing what?" Billy laughed as he recalled the night before when he awoke to the sound of his son stumbling into the house through the front door and crashing into every piece of the living room furniture. Finally managing to scale his raucous laughter down to a decent chuckle, Billy went into a detailed description of everything his son discussed as he guided him towards his bedroom. "And then just as I finally got you to sit down on the bed," Billy finished, "you said you couldn't 'handle anymore dances' and started snoring before you finished laying down." Laughing once again, Billy added, "I just can't believe you went dancing! That's such a lame bachelor party, not to mention you're a terrible dancer! You still do the macarena!" At this affront to his dance moves Jake took offense and blurted out, "I wasn't talking about me dancing," before promptly shutting his mouth and turning back towards the road. At that Billy's eyes went wide as he yelled "Strippers!? Wait til Ness hears." At this Jake shook his head adamantly, practically begging him not to breath a word of his indiscretions to Renesmee.

"How many lap dances does it take to break a wolf? I don't know but I'm pretty sure it'll only take one vampire hybrid," Billy said before laughing at his own joke. Jake nearly rolled his eyes at his dad's corniness but instead focused on getting his dad's attention, "Dad! Please! It wasn't even fun! Every one of those girls is somebody's daughter! Don't tell Nessie!" Pulling up at the town's only bridal shop, Jake finally looked Billy dead in his eyes and pleaded with him until Billy swore to never mention anything about the strip club ever again. While Jake ran into the shop to get their clothes, Billy waited in the car picturing his son's appalled face as a scantily clad dancer pranced around in front of him. "Man, I just hope Paul got it on camera," he sighed as his son quickly returned with the finely tailored suits.

Having no need for the local bridal shop due to Alice's addiction to fashion, the Cullens spent that morning in other pursuits. Aside from Alice carrying out her final preparations in a whirlwind of telephone calls, the Cullen manor functioned much like any other day. Esme was out on the patio working on her latest designs for Isle Esme and in the garage, Jasper and Emmett were replacing the tail lights in his Jeep. Rosalie was still at the hospital as she was always keen to take on extra shifts with the premies in the neonatal unit. With Edward and Bella at her father's house, Carlisle found himself the only person in the house with nothing to proud as he was for the success of his family and pleased as he was with his granddaughter for starting a new life as a married adult, Carlisle couldn't help but feel a little displeased with his own life. Being a vampire, as it were, was not without its fair share of hardships. The largest of which was, of course, keeping the secret and Carlisle had found this increasingly difficult in the last few years. Being so well known as the Head of Surgery made the fact that Carlisle never seemed to age a topic of local gossip. When his patients began asking him what his secret was and nurses started suggesting that he had an addiction to botox, Carlisle knew it was time to step out of the public eye. Being unable to practice medicine left Carlisle with much more free time on his hands than he was used to, resulting in quite a bit of boredom.

There he was, on his grand daughter's wedding day, wondering how he could possibly pass the innumerable hours until his return to medicine. Carlisle, after making his way to his office, glanced around at the large library of books he'd collected throughout the years. He hoped to seek refuge in one of the many tomes and traced his finger along the spines of his more favored volumes. Finally Carlisle reached the one book he knew he could always turn to whether in times of joy or solace. Pulling the heavy book from its place on the shelf, Carlisle gave the briefest of glances to the gold edges of the pages which still gleamed after hundreds of years. Opening its cover, Carlisle made his way to the comfortable chair behind his desk and tried to decide on which passage would offer him the most comfort. Quietly he flipped to the 29th chapter of Jeremiah and found the verse he was looking for. Reading aloud to himself, he said in a reverent tone, "For I know the thoughts, that I have thought towards you, saith the Lord, even the thoughts of peace, and not of trouble, to give you an end, and your hope..." Closing his eyes, Carlisle meditated on the word of God as he did every day. This was practice of his he had begun some 400 years ago when he had finally learned to accept his fate as a vampire and decided to make the most of the immortality he was given. This practice, more than anything else, brought him the peace he needed to face each new day because no matter how many times he opened this one book, something new could always be gleaned from its words.

As the day wore on and the sunset drew nearer, Nessie also developed a peaceful calm, the likes of which she hadn't experienced in weeks. Of course, "calm" was a word nobody would typically consider using in regards to her, or the lifestyle of her family, but this particular day seemed to be an exception to that rule. Something about her soon to be relatives exuded such a sense of serene certainty that Ness couldn't help but follow suit. Maybe it was the pack mentality that seemed to have infused the entire tribe or maybe it was the fact that most of the women surrounding her were already married (if not imprinted upon by wolves). Either way, they were all so happy and well adjusted to the idea of a lifelong commitment between two people that Ness couldn't help but feel the same. As Rachel and Rebecca did Nessie's hair and make-up, the three girls chatted and got used to the idea of being sisters. "You don't mind if we call you Renesmee" began Rachel before Rebecca interrupted, "even though everybody else call's you Ness, right?" "Because we just love the fact that your name starts with an 'R' like ours do," Rachel finished with a smile. Renesmee laughed at the way the twins interrupted one another and finished each other's thoughts. While they weren't identical, they were very much alike. Renesmee was sure that Rachel missed having her sister around while Rebecca was at home in Hawaii and so she was a little glad that her wedding wasn't quite as impromptu as she'd wanted it if meant that they had a reason to be together. "Sure," Renesmee answered, careful not to nod her head too much and risk ruining her hair.

"Good," said Rebecca as she laid down the comb and bobby pins she had been using to sculpt and style Renesmee's massive locks into an elaborately braided up-do. The sisters both gazed at the finished product in the mirror, obviously pleased with the results. While it was clear that they had made great use of the notes Alice had sent over along with the dress, Renesmee could easily recognize the flair of the twins handiwork in how they incorporated her great-grandmother's jeweled comb along with a necklace of pearls that had been in their family for generations. The latter had been worn by both Rachel and Rebecca on each of their wedding days as it had been by their mother. "We feel like its what she would have wanted now that you're officially joining the family," they had explained with Rachel beginning the sentence and Rebecca finishing it.

The sun was hanging low in the west, signaling the approaching evening, as the wedding guests arrived at the beach. It was a beautiful sight. Something about the pinks, oranges, and yellows that streaked across the sky along with the soft waves that beat against the shoreline was hypnotizing. An even more mesmerizing sight, however, was Renesmee, skin aglow in the setting sun. She was dressed in a modestly simple draped gown of satin and charmeuse that, clinging to her small frame, gave her the appearance of a Grecian goddess. Her beauty needed not a single embellishment and the only jewels to be seen on her were the ring given to her by Jacob, the comb her mother wore on her wedding day and the pearls shared with her by Rachel and Rebecca. As soon as Renesmee stepped onto the beach every single eye was on her, including those of her vampiric guests who stood on the nearby cliff top. While the Quileute elders had been more lenient in allowing the Cullens to visit their territory, they could not allow other vampires on their land, even for the celebration of a wedding. That did nothing to dampen the spirits of the bride, however, because she only had eyes for her groom, Jacob.

Jake stood tall and proud at the edge of the water, just out of reach of the lapping tide that had already ebbed to its lowest point. There he waited for his Ness, clad in a dark gray suit that nearly mirrored the pebbles that littered the shoreline. It was a short yet peaceful ceremony, without the pomp and circumstance one would have expected from an Alice Cullen affair. The couple had already decided on traditional vows with the slight exception of promising to love one another "for as long as we both shall live." As the couple kissed, the sun was nearly resting on the horizon, meeting the ocean's welcoming embrace and signaling the end of another day. As darkness began to creep along the beach, a path of lights (meticulously created by Alice) illuminated a trail into to woods. Following after the bride and groom, everyone eventually arrived at a clearing along the river that marked the boundary of the Quileute lands. Scattered throughout the clearing were a number of large tents nearly ten feet tall, made of delicate fabrics in the most decadent of colors. It was like a scene from 1001 Arabian Nights with Moroccan lamps strung from the trees completing the setting.

Through the trees the stars were just beginning to show in the darkening sky and the moon was nearly full. Under the glow of this lighting the newlywed couple took their first dance before any of their guests could even begin to find their seats. Surprisingly enough Jacob managed not to embarrass himself or his new bride as they danced and spun around in a large circle beneath that starry sky. Much to their surprise, music began to play and eventually their guests, moved by the scene before them, began pairing up and joining the loving couple in their dance. And as the music played on, Jacob and Ness eventually got around to greeting and thanking their guests, enjoying the company they provided. Between the food and the drinks, the music and the dancing, it seemed that everyone, whether wolf or vampire, was having a fantastic time. It seemed, to Ness, as if they had managed to have a truly perfect night, where the only thing that mattered was the love she had for Jacob and vis versa.

It was well into the night, or rather quite early in the morning, before the party began to come to an end and it seemed as though all present had had an exceedingly good time considering most of the guests were more than a bit intoxicated. Even Billy had consumed his fair share of "sparkling fire water," as he jokingly dubbed the pricey champagne that was flowing throughout the night. In fact, after the speeches had been made, the cake had been cut and the bouquet tossed, Billy was down right drunk and happier than any of his children had seen him since their mother's death. "I only wish I could have given you girls weddings like this one," he sloppily admitted to his daughters during a break in the music. "I wonder how much all of this must have cost, especially considering nobody wanted me chipping in," he finished with a twinge of guilt. Hearing Billy's remorse from where she was dancing with Jasper, Alice quickly came forward to set Billy's mind to ease. "Oh don't even worry about it Billy, I did most of this myself which actually saved us quite a lot." Seeing that he wasn't exactly convinced, Alice added, "not to mention I've collected quite a number of friends over the years and favors to go with them." Coming to his wife's aid Jasper helped to soften the mood and backed up Alice's story by saying, "Honestly Billy, the only things that put a dent in anyone's wallet were the libations and Edward's secret wedding present."

Upon hearing this, everyone ears perked up immediately and Billy completely forgot about feeling guilty, more interested in knowing what the secret could possibly be. Jake, too, was keen to find out, anxiously shouting in excitement, "I completely forgot there would be presents!" Waiting for the laughter to die down, Edward stepped forward in order to present his and Bella's gift to the newlyweds. Reaching into the inside pocket of his suit jacket, Edward quickly pulled a small silver jingling object out. Keys. The motor enthusiast in Jacob responded before anyone else could, "A new car!? We should get married more often!" The laughter began once more as Edward attempted to clarify, "No Jake, these aren't for a car." While Jake's smile faded a bit, Ness could take the waiting no longer, "Well then come on and tell us what they're for Dad!"

Pleased with himself for pulling off what, in his opinion, was a fantastic surprise, Edward finally consented to answer. "I bought you guys a nice little house midway between our place and the reserve, not very far from here, actually. I thought the two of you might be happy to have a place of your own." Handing the keys to his open-mouthed daughter, Edward smiled slyly before returning to his seat beside Bella who looked on with misty eyes of love and admiration. As the applause quieted down Jacob began to speak up. "While we really appreciate such a generous gift Edward, we're sorry that we can't accept it," Jacob declared with the slightest tinge of nervousness to his voice. As the looks of shock and confusion appeared on the faces of his guests, Jacob quickly continued, "We can't accept because we already have a house...the house that I built for my wife." Hearing her husband's words, Ness's jaw dropped as did the keys she had been holding in her hand.

"You built a house? You built me a house? Us a house? Seriously?" Ness and everyone who had been following the exchange were astonished until Billy, ever the voice of reason, began to applaud. "That's my boy!" Once again laughter rang out amongst the entire company but all of Ness's attention was solely on her Jake, the man who loved her more than anything, had built her a house, and was giving her a baby. Everything totally forgotten, Ness kissed Jake and showed him her happiness with a vision of the future she could only dream of predicting, a picture of she and him along with a tiny bundle of joy. Shocked by the vision, Jake was practically bewildered when their lips finally parted. "You want a baby?" he asked quietly, equally unaware of the party that had resumed all around them. Unable to fully articulate her joy or explain what she had just shown Jake through words, Ness simply placed his hand on her abdomen while a tear left her eye.

Just as clarity came over Jacob, the sound of shattering glass could be heard on the other side of the clearing. Their focus broken, the couple turned towards the source of the sound to see Edward standing with a look of equal parts utter fury and terrible disappointment. As the other guests began to notice the look on Edward's face, he finally opened his mouth but could only manage to utter two quiet words, that still rang crystal clear through the night. "She's pregnant," seemed to echo in the resounding silence that followed his revelation as he turned his back on them all and marched into the deep darkness of the surrounding woods.**  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Living on the Reservation

Chapter Four: Living on the Reservation****

The silence ended, the whispers began and the merriment of the occasion was soon lost to the world. Nobody knew what to do or say except ask their neighbor, "Do you think it's true?", "Could it be?" and "What will they do?" Galvanized by the stares, Jake turned back to Ness, grabbed her in his arms, and smiled, "I can't wait to be a dad," he proclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear. With that Jake scooped his bride off of her sweet and began to walk back towards the beach, "You all will have to excuse us now! It's time for the honeymoon and I'd rather not waste another minute. Thanks for coming!" And with that the reception was over and all of the wedding guests were left standing in absolute shock, obviously unsure of how to react to the night's rapid turn of events.****

The next morning Ness awoke in an unfamiliar bed as sunlight streamed through a window covered in cream colored curtains. With eyes still puffy from hours of crying, she tried to look around and assess her surroundings before quickly giving it up as a bad job. The night full of eating and dancing that she had was enough to leave anyone exhausted, but coupled with the crying and the wave of morning sickness that seemed to be threatening her stomach made even sitting up sound like a terrible idea. "Jacob?" she called, hoping that he was somewhere nearby. "Just a sec, Ness. I'm coming," he replied in a tone that Ness considered much too chipper for whatever time of day it was. Looking down at herself Ness realized she was no longer in her wedding dress but in a t-shirt of Jacob's large enough to entirely cover her petite frame. Lifting the blanket and sheets that covered her, Ness then saw that the bed she had been so carefully tucked into was more massive than any she had ever seen. A completely wooden structure, from what she could tell from her position on top of it, the frame appeared to have been custom made to accommodate Jacob's unnaturally large build. ****

"How are you feeling?" Jake asked as he appeared in the doorway carrying a tray covered in breakfast foods. Not knowing how best to answer her husband's question, Ness asked her own. "Did you make me breakfast?" Her eyes opened wider to take in the sight as a small rumbling came from her stomach. Jake laughed at the sound, producing a deep wolfish bark of a laugh from somewhere deep within. "I guess it was a good idea," he answered as he sat down on the bed and placed the tray on his bride's lap. They ate quietly, enjoying the warmth of the summer's sun that filtered through the windows. Not wanting to talk about the previous night's revelation, Ness asked questions about the house Jake had built for the two of them.****

"How long have you been working on this?" Ness questioned with a sweeping gesture of her right hand. Jake chuckled before replying, "Years, my love, many years." Her eyes opened wide in shock, Ness asked, "How many years? How did you managed to keep such a big secret?" Jake laughed a little more before settling into a lengthy explanation. "I started coming out here not long after your family faced down those Italian bloodsuckers..." Having a bit more respect for the history of her family's kind, Ness interrupted Jake with a correction, "the Volturi, you mean," before he continued.****

"When they left, and it turned out I wouldn't have to take you into hiding, I decided prepare for the best instead of the worst case scenario." He looked at Ness, who had finished eating and moved the tray down to the floor, before he continued. "At first I just cleared the land, I wasn't sure how long it would take for you to grow up but I knew that when you did I would want to be ready. So it was slow work, between you, the pack, school and working at the car repair shop, my free time was limited. But over the years I worked on it, little by little. I actually lifted most of the logs into place in wolf form," he added looking for Ness's reaction.****

Instead of laughing at the idea of a wolf building a house, like Jake expected, Ness surprised him by instead shouting, "Logs? Like whole logs? Is this a log cabin?" She jumped out of bed and put her face to the window, looking to either side for a glimpse of the stacked logs that made up the outer walls of her new home. Memories of her Grandpa Charlie pulling boxes of old toys down from his attic, of he and Jake teaching her to build houses out of her mom's old Lincoln Logs, all flooded her mind. "I wanted to live in a log cabin when I was little," she whispered as she turned away from the window. "I remembered," said Jake as he too got up from the bed, "Let me show you the rest."****

"I can't believe I didn't notice last night when you brought me here," Ness sighed, ashamed with herself for having unknowingly missed the big reveal. "I wasn't expecting you to see much between the darkness and your crying," Jake admitted. "This works out much better," he tried to convince her, "it looks much more impressive in the daylight." He took her hand and led her to their bathroom, narrating the features he had a professional plumber install. "I couldn't risk screwing anything up, I might be handy but this needed to be perfect."****

He led her through the living room and kitchen as well as a second bedroom, constantly reminding her that it was still a work in progress. "I didn't paint because I knew you'd want a say in the colors and I want to lay some tile in the kitchen but it'll cost a little extra to get exactly what I want." He rattled on and on about the bits that still needed to be completed but Ness was in awe with the amount of work all of the years of construction must have required. Before she knew it, he was leading Ness up a flight of steps to show her the rest. Finally he covered her eyes and carried her outside. Setting her down at the edge of the property, he removed his hand from her face allowing her to take a first real look at their cabin.****

"After we announced the engagement I got the rest of the pack to pitch in where they could to get it liveable in time," Jake explained as Ness took it all in. There was a front porch that seemed to wrap around to the back as well. In her mind's eye Ness could see the flower bed she would put in front of the porch and the swing she would sit on in warm weather. She thought this cabin was much more than just liveable. "This is more than I could have ever asked for," she said while hugging Jake, "Thank you so much." With that the two of them went back inside to discuss paint colors and decide on furniture.****

That same morning proceeded in a much different fashion back at the Cullen Manor. Tired after hours of her husband's inconsolable solace, anger and disappointment in their daughter, Bella had unceremoniously kicked Edward out of the cottage. He sought refuge in Carlisle's study hoping that he, at least, would understand. "Father, I doubt know what to do. I've tried so hard to raise her and teach her right from wrong, to show her the importance of living by the laws of God. She had a chance at salvation and true everlasting life, not this shameful immortality of the accursed. Where did I go wrong?"****

Edward finished his little tirade with a plea for help in his eyes, begging Carlisle for his guidance. Carlisle looked at his son with sorrow, knowing that Edward could read his thoughts and hear that he shared his pain. Finally Carlisle gave voice to his only piece of advice, "You cannot give up on her." Looking out of the window to the trees that surround the property, he continued, "Renesme is young, she has made mistakes, but it is not too late for her to be forgiven. You've raised a good daughter and she still continues to grow. As the years go on she will learn from this and be better for it. Her soul is not yet lost."****

Edward listened patiently but his anger and disappointment were not abated. "It may well be that God shall forgive her of her sins, but how can I forgive her lies and disobedience? How can I condone her actions or express any happiness at where her choices have led her? I fear I can not trust my own daughter any longer," he resolved. Carlisle turned back to Edward with even more sadness plaguing his thoughts. All he could say was, "pray on it and let God lead you." With that Carlisle lifted his Bible from where he had left it on his desk the previous day and handed it to his son before leaving the room.****

By the time Jake and Ness had returned from the hardware store later that day, all of their wedding gifts had been delivered to the cabin. Ness could only presume that Jake had arranged it so that she wouldn't have to face any of her friends or family just yet. The couple decided to open their presents before beginning the painting process as patience wasn't one of Ness's strong suits. Amongst the decorative china and monogrammed towels were items they desperately needed to turn the cabin into a home. From kitchenware to bedding and all manner of home decor items, it seemed as if the two would want for nothing. ****

"Except furniture," Jake pointed out as he gathered up all of the torn wrapping paper for the trash. "True," responded Ness, "but at least we've got a bed." And she hadn't been exaggerating because the bed that they'd slept in was indeed the only piece of furniture that they owned. "Well first things, first, my love. Let's get started with the painting and then the floors. We've gotta have floors to put the furniture on." And with that the newlyweds spent the whole night and the next morning painting and eating frozen pizzas until every room on the first floor was a brand new hue.****

"Looks great!" Jake exclaimed as the finally removed the last of the painters tape from the walls. "Not exactly how I pictured our honeymoon though," he added as she looked at his wife's paint smeared face. "Are you kidding me? This exactly how I wanted to spend the first 36 hours of our marriage," replied Ness in her usual brand of sassy sarcasm. Just as she brought the paint rollers to the sink for washing, her cell phone rang. Jake could see the hope fill her eyes as she looked to see who tho call was from. He also saw the twinge of disappointment that betrayed her voice as she answered her mother's call. ****

"Hi Mom, I'm glad you called. I've wanted to talk to you but haven't known what to say other than I'm sorry," Ness said into the phone while leaning against the kitchen counter. Jake couldn't quite make out Bella's whisper quiet voice as it came though the phone but he gathered from Ness's nodding head that it wasn't anything too bad. After a while Ness asked a question that had clearly been pulling at her for the past day. "How is dad taking it?" The answer to the question was sure to be interesting so Jake stepped closer to Ness in order to hear as well.****

"Well I'm sure you can imagine how hurt he was to find out about you being pregnant. He was very upset by the time we made it home the other night and, well, pretty disappointed. He drove me absolutely crazy with his rotation of ranting and brooding so I told him to go for a run or something. Apparently he went to talk to your grandpa Carlisle and has been holed up in the study ever since..." Bella seemed to realize how upsetting this news might be and tried to assuage her daughter's guilt by saying, "Don't worry honey, this isn't the first time he's gone into hiding because things didn't go the way he wanted."****

Jake tried to stifle a chuckle after hearing that but noticed that Ness wasn't as amused. Apparently Bella had passed the phone along to Carlisle, who had some questions to ask about Ness and the pregnancy. "It's very important that we keep a close eye on this if we want to make sure you don't run into the same complications as your mother. I don't want you to worry unnecessarily but I would like to run some tests to hopefully see how your baby is developing," Carlisle said, his bedside manner just as impeccable over the phone. Ness agreed to the tests and in no time she and Carlisle developed an accurate flow chart of her progress thus far. ****

As Carlisle had expected, an ultrasound yielded no results, yet the presence of a fetus was unmistakable. The pair decided it might be worthwhile to contact their old friend Nahuel, to see if he might be able to shed any light on what lay ahead. Luckily Alice proved to be of great use for more than just party planning and was able to foresee a location for, Huilen, Nahuel's aunt. With any luck she would know where the vampire hybrid was or at least a means of reaching him. Alice and Jasper set out immediately and while they were able to track down Huilen surprisingly fast, they learned that she had no means of contacting Nahuel because he had long been on the hunt for his father. The pair settled on leaving a letter in the hopes that Nahuel would be returning to his home in the South American jungles soon.****

Resigned to the fact that Nahuel might not be able to offer any insight into Renesme's particular situation even if he did contact them, Carlisle and Ness monitored her pregnancy with all of the accuracy of NASA space mission. While her pregnancy proved to be moving along more rapidly than the average gestation period, Renesme's baby grew nowhere near as quickly as she had in the womb. She assured Carlisle that her thirst was no greater than it ever had been in the past, suggesting that the baby might not crave blood at all. It seemed like her child might indeed be more wolf-like, or at least human, than anything else. For this reason it was fairly easy to convince the Cullens that the pregnancy posed no immediate threat to Ness's health and there was no need to move into the manor. It only seemed to make sense that Jake and Ness continue living on the reservation and eventually raise their child there.

"We haven't talked about baby names yet," Jake mentioned one evening while he and Ness were preparing for bed. It was a month after the wedding and, from her and Carlisle's calculations, Ness was at the start of her second trimester. She had only just begun to show if you could even call it that. From head on Renesmee still appeared exactly the same to most people's eyes and even for the eyes of an immortal it took more than a passing glance to notice the slight roundness her belly was exhibiting. Jake, having grown quite familiar with all the curves of his wife's physique, noticed this as Renesmee stood before the floor length mirror hanging on their bedroom wall.

"Oh, I don't know," Ness sighed as she scrutinized her reflection before glancing down at her slightly protruding midsection. She hadn't displayed much enthusiasm for her pregnancy at all and it was something Jacob wanted to help her with. After her father found out about the baby and promptly left their wedding reception in a fit of anger, Jacob worried that the resulting sense of guilt might become too much for her. ****

"Well I have a few ideas, if you'd like to hear them," Jake ventured while keeping his eyes downcast. Coming around, Ness turned away from the floor length mirror and joined her husband who was seated on the edge of the bed. "Okay then, I'm listening," Ness said with less enthusiasm than Jake would have liked. Undaunted, however, Jake pressed on and presented his first idea. "Obviously I think Jacob would be the best name for a son," Jake said unabashedly with quite the grin plastered across his face.****

At Jake's first suggestion, Ness simply rolled her eyes while climbing under the comforter and sheets that covered their bed. "Okay, we'll come back to that. What are your ideas for a girl?" she asked. Jake got up from the bed and went to get a piece of paper from the pocket of his jeans before laying back down next to Ness. Seeing that her interest had been piqued Jake seized the opportunity to get her more involved and asked for honest opinions on each of his ideas before revealing his list.****

"Annabel, Autumn, Eliana, Haylee, Paige, Paula, Mackenzie and Marlie. Wow," read Ness with her eyebrows raised in surprise. "What's the matter?" Jake asked with a note of alarm ringing through his voice. "You don't like any of them?" he finished, disappointed at his seemingly poor taste in baby names. "No, no, it's not that," replied Ness in a hurry, having not intended to hurt Jake's feelings and sorry to have given him the wrong impression. "I was just shocked that you listed them in alphabetical order," she explained with a smirk.****

Seeing the smirk that threatened to bloom into outright laughter, Jake mentioned how much thought he'd given it. "That must have really hurt because most of these are pretty good," Ness joked encouragingly. At that, Jake let out a bark of laughter, happy to finally see his bride relaxed. It had been really hard for him to watch his new wife go through the first few days of their marriage sullen and despondent. She hadn't wanted to leave the house and while she consented to visitors and helped with decorating, it was obvious her mind was elsewhere. ****

Jake knew, of course, that she wanted to hear from her father, but gathered that she probably had no idea of what to say. It was clear that she was worried, not only over her deteriorating relationship with her father but also for the future of their baby. Glad to move past those four days of anxiety, Jake watched Ness peruse his short list with more focus than the first time around. "So do you like any of them in particular?" he asked while trying his best to sound nonchalant. Sensing his need for approval, Ness admitted that she really liked the name Marlie, "I just think its pretty original...without having to mash together the names of our parents," she finished with a roll of her eyes. Jake laughed again, "so then Marlie for a girl? Sounds great to me!" And as the pair chuckled, Jacob leaned over and gave Ness a kiss in a move so fast you would have had to be super natural to catch it. Pleasantly surprised, Ness reciprocated, all together in a much better mood than she had been ever since the dramatic end of her wedding reception days prior. And for at least one night, the couple stayed that way, blissfully happy to be in love, married, and with child, just like any normal newlyweds.

Author's Note:

I really appreciate everyone who has been following the story thus far, especially those of you who have sent reviews! If you ever notice a typo, have a question, or even a suggestion, please review because I love hearing other people's perspectives. Beside's that I'm writing this note to apologize for the "fluffy-ness" of the story so far and to inform you that this story will pick up the pace soon. Thank you again for reading!


	5. Chapter 5: Here Comes Baby

Chapter Five: Here Comes Baby

Very much the antithesis to her mother's ordeal, Renesme's pregnancy seemed nearly too good to be true. Instead of growing weak and brittle as her belly grew larger, Ness appeared to grow stronger and even more beautiful than she had ever been. Her skin glowed with a radiance and warmth that nobody could understand and, unaware of her growing strength, she frequently found herself accidentally breaking glasses and tearing clothing. Jake jokingly took to calling his pregnant wife "Mrs. Hulk" behind closed doors, much to Ness's ire.

The other peculiarities of Renesme's pregnancy didn't lend themselves to jokes quite as easily, but they were amazing nonetheless. For instance, Ness rarely experienced any morning sickness or any of the peculiar cravings that usually plague expectant mothers. She didn't even crave blood as much as she typically did, and at times found her thirst to be completely nonexistent. Instead, Nessie's sole source of discomfort was the baby's incessant movement and the resulting pressure on her bladder that was nearly constant. Of course this wasn't too troublesome, given the fact that Nessie was not much interested in leaving her new home and thus always within reach of a bathroom.

In fact, Nessie's insistence on staying home was the only truly noticeable difference between her behaviour as a growing teenager and that as a newlywed mother-to-be. From the parenting books Jake had been reading, he deduced that his wife was "nesting," but that didn't make him feel any better about her sudden transformation into a complete recluse. Worried about his wife's state of mind, he frequently found excuses to invite family and friends to the house. A housewarming party the last week of August, a Labor Day barbecue in September, Monday night football every week in October, and the baby shower in November helped to keep the cabin full of people. Of course it was a little tricky surprising Ness with a shower in her own home, but Jake managed to pull it off with a little help from Alice once the two had made up over their differences with the wedding.

With all of the visitors and entertaining, Jake hoped that Ness would be distracted from the fact that she and her father had yet to reconcile. He had even tried to act as mediator himself, but he failed to get Edward to so much as give Ness a call. Still inconsolable over the perceived betrayal by his only daughter, Edward had actually elected to leave Forks. Bella had explained the decision to Ness during a brief visit. "Your father just needs some time and a quiet place to think. Eventually he'll come to the same conclusion I have and he'll get over it. I promise we'll be back before the baby comes, I wouldn't miss that for the world," Bella promised. She stuck around to try to lift her daughter's spirits, reading to the baby and doing some online shopping for much needed baby stuff using Edward's credit card.

Though Jake was thankful for Bella's effort, he knew that no amount of distraction, by him or anyone else, would be enough for Ness. While she hid her disappointment well, Jake wasn't sure that she could truly get excited about the coming baby without making up with her father. Sadly, as the weeks went on with no word from Bella and Edward, the reconciliation Jake hoped for seemed less and less likely. It was nice, however, to see support coming from the rest of the Cullen clan. Rosalie was once again ecstatic at the prospect of there being another baby in the family, even if the child would be half wolf. After nearly seven years of competing for time with Nessie, Jake and Rosalie had actually become close enough for him to possibly consider letting the blonde terror babysit in the future. As it was, Rosalie showed up at the log cabin every other day to rub Nessie's stomach and make sure she was playing the right music to stimulate the baby.

"We wouldn't want the little angel to turn out like its father," Rose explained in a fake whisper during one of her visits.

"I know that you know I can hear you and I'm not going to dignify that remark with a response," Jake bellowed from the kitchen. Ness could only laugh at the antics of two of her most favorite people. Rosalie had always acted like the perfect mix of nurturing mother, cool aunt, and protective big sister, and now that Ness was living as an adult it seemed like she and Rosalie were on more level footing than ever before. One might say they were embarking on an entirely new type of friendship, which was something enormously comforting during Ness's self-imposed sequestration.

"I'm really grateful for all of your visits Aunt Rose," Ness admitted while Jake was busy taking out the trash. She couldn't admit it to her husband, but Ness was worried that her pregnancy was making her entire family a nervous wreck. Well, everyone except for Rose. It seemed as if Edward's disapproval and Carlisle's anxiety had rubbed off on all of the residents of the Cullen house. Ness could tell that her uncles and even Alice feared for how the Volturi would react if they found out, and the fact that they couldn't know what to expect from the child did even less to assuage concerns. Rose could see this apprehension in her niece's eyes but tried to reassure her.

"Everyone was terrified of you when Bella was pregnant, but I had faith in you. I knew you would be a little miracle and a second chance at life for all of us, and I was willing to help your mother fight for that. You need the same faith, and you need to be willing to do whatever it takes to protect this baby because it will be a miracle too. You're about to be a mother, Ness, and it's about time you embrace that no matter what anyone else might think." As Rosalie ended her little pep talk she found an uncertain smile making its way across Ness's face. To bring her point home she added, " And while Jake and I might not agree on much, we both still have faith in you and know you're going to be great."

That notion helped Ness to stop worrying about her pregnancy all the way up until she found herself experiencing that first contraction in the dead of night two days after Christmas. It was ten days before the due date Carlisle had projected, and the news had taken everyone by surprise. It had been snowing for an entire week before, ensuring that Ness received the quiet holiday with Jake she had been hoping for. The snow was less of a godsend, however, when it meant Ness couldn't get to the Cullen Manor for the delivery according to plan. The roads were completely impassable by car and Ness was in too much pain to make the trip on foot; the only other option was a cabin full of Cullens. Carlisle had enlisted everyone's help in carrying his equipment to the reservation. It would have been quite the sight to behold if any humans had been daring enough to brave the storm, but luckily none were out or probably even awake as the coven set up the equipment in the newlyweds' bedroom.

As Nessie's contractions slowly grew closer and closer together, the screaming became almost too much for Jake to bear. He had seen people in pain before, been hurt beyond recollection, and caused a great deal of pain to others (though he had his doubts about whether vampires could really feel pain in death), but never before had he dealt with anything like this. Renesme's cries cut through him like a knife and it was all he could do to see her in the sterile-looking hospital bed and hold her hand through it all. Of course they had opted for Carlisle to deliver the baby; being hands-down the best doctor in Forks and also the only physician in the world who had any idea of how to handle a birth as special as this one made him the only sound choice.

But even still, Carlisle was at a loss for any means of alleviating Nessie's pain. Just as Ness's pain proved beyond unmanageable, all of his high tech equipment proved rather beyond unhelpful in monitoring things like Nessie's accelerated heartbeat and amplified blood pressure. Her high temperature had only increased with the intensity of her labor pains and meant that any drugs Carlisle had to offer would burn off before they could take any effect. "There's nothing I can do to fix this! The longer she stays in labor, the higher her temperature will become and the less effective my drugs will be - all resulting in her increasing pain. I'll be out of morphine soon and I'd have to bite her down to her spine just to even attempt administering an epidural and there's no guarantee that it would be any more effective as a means of alleviating her pain," Carlisle frantically whispered as he tried to asses the situation. Though Jake knew that the doctor's theorizing was all simply an effort to help Ness, he couldn't help snarling at the thought of anyone biting into his wife.

"You're just gonna have to come up with something else Doc," said Jake in a pleading voice. But Ness, being the only other person in the room who actually understood her predicament, had already resigned herself to the fact that she was giving birth to her baby without the help of modern medicine no matter how long her labor lasted. And it lasted. Eventually Ness lost track of how long she had been in labor, the pain eliminating all sense of time and space from her mind. It was all she could do to grip Jake's hand, and much to everyone's surprise, Jake barely winced when her squeeze broke a finger and it healed. Repeatedly. Jake's grip never slackened as the bones in his hand broke and healed over and over again because he was so aware of the abundantly worse pain his wife, the love of his life, was suffering for their child. ""I'm so sorry Nessie. I'm here baby. I love you. It will all be okay," Jake whispered like a mantra or prayer though he wasn't even sure if she could hear anything.

After 16 long hours of labor, when the day had ended and the sun had already set, Carlisle finally began to see some progress in Renesmee's condition. "I believe the baby is beginning to crown," he informed Ness and Jake after what seemed to be his hundredth check of Renesmee's dilating cervix. As a sigh of relief left Jake's mouth, the whisper of stirring vampires coming from the next room informed him that his wife's family had also heard the news. The blanket relief was quickly eradicated by the sound of yet another painful cry from Ness. "Your contractions are much closer together now, Ness. The baby is ready and it's time for you to start pushing," Carlisle said in a voice that epitomized his famed bedside manner. Whether Ness was listening or not, no one could say, considering her cries - along with the sound of the bones in Jake's hands breaking - reverberated throughout the bedroom once more.

Yet, Ness interrupted her own cries by asking a question in a hitherto unheard and quite raspy voice. "Are they here?" she asked as her eyes fluttered around the room.

Jake cringed at the thought of disappointing his belabored wife with the answer to her question, knowing that (though every Cullen had tried to speak to Bella and Edward) no one had managed to convince Ness's parents to return. While Bella admitted that she wanted to be present for the birth of her grandchild, she also confessed that she couldn't abandon Edward in his despair. The two were still holed up in some unknown place while Bella attempted to assuage Edward's anger and grief. Seeing the look on Jake's face, Carlisle felt a familiar sense of compassion for the young man, who had already suffered so much at the fault of the family he created. Deciding to break the news himself, Carlisle took his granddaughter's face in his hands and stared into her scared eyes as he said, "Your mother and father love you, but they aren't going to make it here in time. You have everything you need to bring your baby into the world right here and right now. You're strong enough to do it my dear, you are wonderful and your baby will be wonderful. Just take a deep breath and, when I say so, I want you to push."

Upon hearing Carlisle's calm words and clear instructions, Ness immediately began to feel more at ease with the entire situation. Whether that had anything to do with her uncle, Jasper, being just behind her closed bedroom door, she did not bother to wonder. Instead she simply remembered who she was and focused on what she needed to do. "Okay Grandpa, I'm ready when you are," she breathed as she steeled herself for the coming contraction and her first push. Carlisle smiled, having not heard that particular title come from his granddaughter in quite a while. No sooner could his smile take shape before it was time for Ness to finally push.

"Alright Renesme, push" he commanded, his tone just a calm and nonchalant as if he were asking her to do a simple favor.

And so Renesme pushed. She clutched her husband's hands and let out a growl to rival the very best of Jacob's. But the whole ordeal proved rather anticlimactic as it needed to be repeated over and over again throughout the night. It seemed as if Nessie's strength was leaving her with each push, but it wasn't due to the exhaustion she should have been exhibiting in the wee hours of the morning. She was, in fact, wide awake and entirely alert throughout the entire process and the only indication of her being at all physically different was the fact that for the last two contractions she had completely avoided breaking Jake's hand. "Man, I guess you're losing your touch babe. My hand is completely healed for the first time since your water broke," he joked in an effort to lighten the mood.

While Jasper had been doing his best to minimize the tension throughout the night, everyone still had their own thoughts and worries to contend with. Nobody had to be told that a labor lasting this long was uncommon. As Rosalie flitted between Ness's bedside and the living room where the rest of the family waited, Jacob could see the frozen faces of Esme, Alice, and the others each time the door opened. But it seemed as if his attempt at levity had at least struck a chord with his belaboring wife. In that exact moment Ness gave her final push and a surge of warmth erupted into the room.

"It's a girl," announced Carlisle as he cleaned the baby off and immediately began taking measurements. Jacob kissed Ness as she lay back with eyes gle aming having heard the cries of her first child. Carlisle returned from the other corner of the room carrying the baby girl, his initial curiosity satisfied for the time being after having assured himself of the child's good health.

"Can I hold her," Ness asked breathlessly as she reached out from under Jake's embrace.

"Of course, my dear. She is in perfect health," answered Carlisle as he placed the crying baby in it's mother's waiting arms.

"Beautiful," said Ness and Jake in unison as they gazed down on the little miracle they had unwittingly created.


End file.
